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Notes   on  the    Fenland 

by 
:.    MCKENNY   HUGHES,    M.A.,   F.R.S.,   F.G.S.,   F.S.A. 

Woodwardian   Professor  of  Geology 
with 

A  Description  of  the  Shippea  Man 

by 
ALEXANDER  MACALISTER,  M.A.,  F.R.S.,  M.D.,  Sc.D. 

Professor  ot  Anatomy 


Cambridge  : 

at  the  University    Press 

1916 

Price  Sixpence  net 


Notes   on  the    Fenland 

by 

T.   MCKENNY  HUGHES,   M.A.,   F.R.S.,   F.G.S.,   F.S.A. 

Woodwardian    Professor  of  Geology 
with 

A  Description  of  the  Shippea  Man 

by 
ALEXANDER  MACALISTER,  M.A.,  F.R.S.,  M.D.,  Sc.D. 

Professor  of  Anatomy 


Cambridge  : 

at   the   University    Press 

1916 

135111 


CAMBRIDGE   UNIVERSITY   PRESS 

C.    P.    CLAY,   Manager 

ILonBon:    FETTER  LANE,  E.C. 

EDinburglj :    100  PRINCES  STREET 


jp.eto  iforfc:    G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS 

ISomban,  Calcutta  nn&  fflafiras:    MACMILLAN  AND  Co.,  Ltd, 

Toronto:   J.  M.  DENT  AND  SONS,  Ltd. 

ffofcgo:    THE  MARUZEN-KAEUSH1KI-KAISHA 


All  rights  resei'Ved 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Geography  of  the  Fenland .1 

Subsidence  of  the  Valley  of  the  Cam   .    .       .2 

TlJRBIFEROUS   AND    ArENIFEROIS    SERIES 3 

Absence  of  Elephant  and  Rhinoceros  in  Turbd  erousS]  mi.-  6 

Absence  of  Peat  in  Areniferous  Series      ....  6 

Fen  Beds  not  all  Peat 7 

Sections  in  Alluvium 7 


Peat;  Trees  etc.  :  Tarn  and  Hill  Peat ;  Spongy  Peat  \m> 
Floating  Islands;    Bog-oak  and  Boo-irox    . 

Marl:    Shell  Marl  and  Precipitated  Marl 

The  Wash:   Cockle  Beds  (Heacham):   Buttery  Clay  (Little 
port)     .... 

Littleport  District 

Buttery  Clay   . 

The  Age  of  the  Fen  Beds 

Palaeontology  of  Fens  . 

Birds  .... 

Man 

Description  of  the  Shippea  man  by   Prof.  A.  Macalisteb 


13 
17 

18 
18 
19 
20 
20 
25 
27 
30 


Geography  of  the  Fenland. 

The  Fenland  is  a  buried  basin  behind  a  breached  barrier. 
It  is  the  "drowned"  lower  cud  of  a  valley  system  in  which 
glacial,  marine,  estuarine,  rluviatile,  and  subaerial  deposits 
have  gradually  accumulated,  while  the  area  has  been  intermit- 
tently depressed  until  much  of  the  Fenland  is  now  many  feet 
below  high  water  in  the  adjoining  seas. 

The  history  of  the  denudation  which  produced  the  large 
geographical  features  upon  which  the  character  of  the  Fenland 
depends  needs  no  long  discussion,  as  there  are  numerous  other 
districts  where  different  stages  of  the  same  action  can  be 
observed. 

In  the  Weald  for  instance  where  the  Darent  and  the  Medway 
once  ran  off  higher  ground  over  the  chalk  to  the  north,  cutting 
down  their  channels  through  what  became  the  North  Downs, 
as  the  more  rapidly  denuded  beds  on  the  south  of  the  barrier 
were  being  lowered.  The  character  of  the  basin  is  less  clear 
in  this  case  because  it  is  cut  off  by  the  sea  on  the  east,  but 
the  cutting  down  of  the  gorges  pari  passu  with  the  denudation 
of  the  hinterland  can  be  well  seen. 

The  Thames  near  Oxford  began  to  run  in  its  present  course 
when  the  land  was  high  enough  to  let  the  river  flow  eastward 
over  the  outcrops  of  Oolitic  limestones  which,  by  the  denudation 
of  the  clay  lands  on  the  west,  by  and  by  stood  out  as  ridges 
through  which  the  river  still  holds  its  course  to  the  sea — the 
lowering  of  the  clay  lands  on  the  west  having  to  wait  for  the 
deepening  of  the  gorges  through  the  limestone  ridges.  A  sub- 
mergence which  would  allow  the  sea  to  ebb  and  flow  through 
these  widening  gaps  would  produce  conditions  there  similar 
to  those  of  our  fenlands.  So  also  the  Witham  and  the  Till 
kept  on  lowering  their  basin  in  the  Lias  and  Trias,  while  their 
h.  f.  1 


2  Geography  of  the  Feriland 

united  waters  cut  down  the  gorge  near  Lincoln  through  a 
barrier  now  250  feet  high. 

The  basin  of  the  Humber  gives  us  an  example  of  a  more 
advanced  stage  in  the  process.  The  river  once  found  its  way 
to  the  sea  at  a  much  higher  level  over  the  outcrops  of  Jurassic 
and  Cretaceous  rocks  west  of  Hull,  cutting  down  and  widening 
the  opening,  while  the  Yorkshire  Ouse,  with  the  Aire,  the  Calder 
and  other  tributaries,  were  levelling  the  New  Red  Sandstone 
plain  and  valleys  west  of  the  barrier  and  tapping  more  and  more 
of  the  water  from  the  uplands  beyond.  The  equivalent  of  the 
Wash  is  not  seen  behind  the  barrier  in  the  estuary  of  the  Humber, 
but  the  tidal  water  runs  far  up  the  river  and  produces  the  fertile 
estuarine  silt  known  as  the  Warp. 

The  Fenland  is  only  an  example  of  a  still  further  stage  in 
this  process.  The  Great  Ouse  and  its  tributaries  kept  on 
levelling  the  Gault  and  Kimmeridge  and  Oxford  Clays  at  the 
back  of  the  chalk  barrier  which  once  crossed  the  Wash  between 
Hunstanton  aud  Skegness. 

The  lowlands  thus  formed  he  in  the  basin  of  the  Great 
Ouse  which  includes  the  Fenland,  while  the  Fenland  includes 
more  than  the  Fens  properly  defined,  so  that  things  recorded 
as  found  in  the  Fenland  may  be  much  older  than  the  Fen 
deposits. 

Subsidence  of  the  Valley  of  the  Cam. 

During  the  slow  denudation  which  resulted  in  the  formation 
of  this  basin  many  things  happened.  There  were  intermittent 
and  probably  irregular  movements  of  elevation  and  depression. 
Glacial  conditions  supervened  and  passed  away. 

The  proof  of  this  may  be  seen  in  the  Sections,  Figs.  1,  2 
and  3,  pp.  8,  9  and  10. 

At  Sutton  Bridge  the  alluvium  has  been  proved  to  a  depth 
of  73  feet  resting  on  Boulder  Clay.  At  Impington  the  Boulder 
Clay  runs  down  to  a  depth  of  86  feet  below  the  surface  level 
of  the  alluvium.  That  means  that  this  part  of  the  valley 
was  scooped  out  before  the  glacial  deposits  were  dropped  in 
it,  and  that  the  bottom  of  the  ancient  valley  is  now  far  below 
sea  level. 


Snhsi(l<m-r  of  the    Valley  of  the  Cam  3 

In  front  of  Jesus  College,  gravel  with  Elephas  primigeniw 
was  excavated  down  to  a  depth  of  30 feel  below  the  3treet, 
while  in  the  Paddocks  behind  Trinity  College  the  -till  more 
recent  alluvium  was  proved  to  a  depth  <>l  L5  feet,  i.e.  L6 feel 
below  o.d.  These  facts  indicate  a  comparatively  recent  sub- 
sidence along  the  valley,  as  no  river  could  scoop  oul  its  I>''<1 
below  sea  level. 

We  need  not  for  our  present  purpose  stop  to  enquire  whel  her 
this  depression  was  confined  to  the  line  of  the  valley  or  was 
part  of  more  widespread  East  Anglian  movements  which  are 
not  so  easy  to  detect  on  the  higher  ground.  From  the  above- 
mentioned  sections  it  is  clear  that  the  denudation,  which 
resulted  in  the  formation  of  the  basin  in  the  lowest  hollow 
of  which  the  Fen  Beds  lie,  was  a  slow  process  begun  and  carried 
on  long  before  glacial  conditions  prevailed  and  before  the  gravel 
terraces  were  formed. 

As  soon  as  the  sea  began  to  ebb  and  How  through  the  opening 
in  the  barrier,  the  conditions  were  greatly  altered  and  we  sec  the 
results  of  the  conflict  between  the  mud-carrying  upland  waters 
and  the  beach-forming  sea. 

TURBIFEROUS    AND    ArEXIFEROUS    SeRII>. 

The  Fen  Beds  belong  to  the  last  stage  and,  notwithstanding 
their  great  local  differences,  seem  all  to  belong  to  one  con- 
tinuous series.  Seeing  then  that  their  chief  characteristic  is 
that  they  commonly  contain  beds  of  peat  it  may  be  convenient 
to  form  a  word  from  the  late  Latin  turba,  turf  or  peat,  and  call 
them  Turbiferous  to  distinguish  them  from  the  Areniferous 
series  which  consists  almost  entirely  of  sands  and  gravels. 

When  the  land  had  sunk  so  far  that  the  velocity  of  the 
streams  was  checked  over  the  widening  estuary  and  on  the 
other  hand  the  tide  and  wind  waves  had  more  free  ace 
some  outfalls  got  choked  and  others  opened;  turbid  water 
sometimes  spread  over  the  flats  and  left  mud  or  was  elsewhere 
filtered  through  rank  plant  growth  so  that  it  stood  clear  in 
meres  and  swamps,  allowing  the  formation  of  peat  unmixed 
with  earthy  sediment. 

1—2 


4  Turbiferous  and  Areniferous  Series 

Banks  are  naturally  formed  along  the  margin  of  rivers  by 
the  settling  down  of  sand  and  mud  when  the  waters  overflow, 
as  seen  on  a  large  scale  along  the  Mississippi,  the  Po,  as  well 
as  along  the  Humber  and  its  tributaries. 

The  effect  of  a  break  down  of  the  banks  is  very  different. 
A  great  hole  is  scooped  out  by  the  outrush,  and  the  mud,  sand 
and  gravel  deposited  in  a  fanshape  according  to  its  degree  of 
coarseness  and  specific  gravity. 

A  good  example  of  this  was  seen  in  the  disastrous  Mid-Level 
flood  at  Lynn  in  1862 x  and  the  more  recent  outburst  near 
Denver  in  the  winter  of  1914-152,  of  which  accounts  were 
published  in  contemporary  newspapers.  The  varied  accom- 
panying phenomena  can  be  well  studied  in  the  process  of 
warping  in  Yorkshire  or  the  colmata  in  Italy. 

This  was  a  much  commoner  catastrophe  in  old  times,  before 
the  banks  were  artificially  raised,  and,  as  the  streams  could 
never  get  back  into  their  old  raised  channel,  this  accounts  for 
the  network  of  ancient  river  beds  which  intersect  the  Fens. 

The  bottom  of  the  Turbiferous  alluvium  is  always,  as  far 
as  my  experience  goes,  sharply  defined.  This  of  course  cannot 
be  seen  in  a  borehole  or  very  small  section. 

The  surface  of  the  older  deposits  seems  to  have  been  often 
washed  clean  either  by  the  encroaching  sea  or  by  the  upland 
flood  waters. 

In  saying  that  there  is  an  absence  of  sand  and  gravel  in 
the  Fen  Beds  we  must  be  careful  not  to  force  this  description 
too  far.  For  when  the  first  encroaching  water  was  washing 
away  any  pre-existing  superficial  deposits  the  first  material 
left  as  the  base  of  the  Fen  Beds  must  have  depended  upon  the 
character  of  the  underlying  strata,  the  velocity  of  the  water  and 
other  circumstances. 

This  is  well  seen  in  the  Whittlesea  brickpit  where  an  ancient 
gravel  with  marine  shells  rests  on  the  Oxford  Clay  and  over 
the  gravel  there  creeps  the  base  of  the  Turbiferous  series. 
It  here  consists  chiefly  of  white  marl  which  thins  out  to  the 
left  of  the  section  and  above  becomes  full  of  vegetable  matter 

1  Times,  Cambridge  Chronicle,  May  31,  1862. 

2  Times,  Jan.  16,  1915. 


Turbiferous  <ni<l  Areniferous  Series  5 

until  it  passes  up  into  peat,  over  which  there  is  a  flood-water 
loam. 

About  a  mile  west-north-west  of  Little  Downham  near 
Ely,  and  within  a  couple  of  hundred  yards  of  Hythe,  the  Fen 
Beds  were  seen  in  a  deep  rut  carried  close  to  the  gravel  hill 
which  here  stretches  out  north  into  the  Fens. 

They  consist  at  the  base  of  material  washed  down  from  the 
spur  of  gravel  and  sand  of  tin'  Areniferous  series  against  which 
the  Fen  Beds  here  abut. 

This  basement  bed  is  succeeded  by  beds  of  silt  and 
peat  of  no  great  thickness  as  they  are  near  the  margin  of  the 
swamp. 

When  any  considerable  thickness  of  the  older  Areniferoua 
gravels  has  been  preserved,  the  base  of  the  Turbiferous  sem- 
is smooth  or  only  gently  undulating.  But  where  only  small 
patches  or  pot-holes  of  gravel  remain,  there  the  top  of  the 
clay  has  been  contorted  and  over-folded  so  as  often  to  contain 
irregularly  curved  pipes  and  even  isolated  nests  of  sand  and 
gravel1.  The  base  of  the  Areniferous  gravel  must  generally 
have  been  thrown  down  upon  clay  which  had  been  clean 
cut  to  an  even  surface  by  denudation  without  any  soakin<_r 
of  the  surface  or  isolated  heaps  of  gravel  sinking  into  the 
clay  under  alternation  of  dry  and  wet  conditions,  such  as 
would  puddle  the  surface  under  the  heaps  and  allow  the  masses 
of  heavy  gravel  to  sink  in  pipes  and  troughs.  These  small 
outlying  patches  of  gravel  are  sometimes  so  little  disturbed 
that  we  leave  them  in  the  Areniferous.  whereas  they  are  some- 
times so  obviously  rearranged  that  we  must  include  them  in 
the  Turbiferous  series,  taking  care  not  to  include  derivative 
bones  from  the  older  in  our  list  of  fossils  from  the  newer 
series. 

1  Cf.  Archaeol.   Journ.  Vol.    lkix.   Xo.    271    2nd  Ser.;    Vol.   xi\.    \.>.   2, 
pp.  205—211. 


<>  Absence  of  Elephant  and  Rhinoceros 

Absence  of  Elephant  and  Ehinoceros  in 

turbiferous  series. 

The  basement  beds  of  the  Turbiferous  or  Newer  Alluvial 
Fen  Beds  are  clearly  separated  by  their  stratification  from  the 
Areniferous  or  Older  Alluvial  Terrace  Beds  down  the  sloping 
margin  of  which  they  creep,  but  there  is  not  anywhere,  as 
far  as  I  am  aware,  any  passage  or  dovetailing  of  the  Fen  Beds 
into  the  gravel  of  the  river  terraces,  while  the  difference  in 
the  fauna  is  very  marked. 

It  is  however  from  such  sections  as  those  just  described 
that  the  erroneous  view  arose  that  the  Elephant  and  Rhinoceros 
occurred  in  the  older  Fen  Beds.  It  is  true  that  they  have  been 
found  under  peat  in  the  Fenland,  but  that  is  only  where  the 
gravel  spurs  of  the  Old  Alluvial  Terraces  or  Areniferous  Series 
have  passed  under  the  newer  Fen  Beds. 

I  saw  the  remains  of  Rhinoceros  tichorhinus  in  the  gravel 
beds  belonging  to  the  older  or  Areniferous  Series  at  Little 
Downham,  and  from  the  base  of  the  gravel  in  the  Whittlesea 
brickpit  I  obtained  a  fine  lower  molar  of  Elephas  antiquns. 
This  was,  however,  not  in  the  Gravel,  but  squeezed  into  the 
soft  surface  of  the  underlying  Jurassic  Clay. 

There  have  never  been  any  remains  of  Elephant  or  Rhinoceros 
found  in  the  Turbiferous  series. 

Absence  of  Peat  in  Areniferous  Series. 

It  is  not  easy  to  realise  what  the  conditions  were  during  the 
formation  of  the  later  Terrace  Gravels  (Barnwell  type),  and, 
if  it  is  a  fact,  why  there  was  not  then,  as  in  later  times,  a  marshy 
peat-bearing  area  here  and  there  between  the  torrential  deposits 
of  the  upper  streams  near  the  foot  of  the  hills  and  the  region 
where  the  tide  met  the  upland  waters.  A  few  plants  have  been 
found  in  the  Barnwell  gravel  but  they  are  very  rare  in  this 
series.  The  older  Terrace  Gravel  (Barrington  type)  might  be 
expected  to  furnish  evidence  of  the  existence  of  abundant 
vegetation  if  we  are  right  in  assigning  it  to  about  the  age  of  the 
peaty  deposits  overlying  the  Weybourn  Crag.  But  at  present  we 
have  no  evidence  of  any  such  deposit  in  the  Cambridge  gravels. 


in  Turbiferou8  Series  7 

Although  there  are  great  masses  of  vegetable  matter 
formed  in  the  swamps  of  tropical  regions,  peat  is  essentially  a 
product  of  northern  climes.  Pliny3  evidently  refers  to  peat,  as 
used  in  Friesland  but  not  as  a  thing  with  which  he  was  la  miliar. 

Fen  Beds  not  all  Peat. 

It  must  not,  however,  be  imagined  that  the  Fen  Beds 
consist  wholly  or  even  chiefly  of  peat.  As  we  travel  north 
from  Cambridge  the  surface  of  the  alluvium  is  brown  earth 
for  miles  and  only  here  and  there  shows  the  black  surface  of 
peat.  The  numerous  ditches  for  draining  the  land  confirm 
this  observation,  and  when  we  have  the  opportunity  of  ex- 
amining excavations  carried  down  to  great  depths  into  the 
alluvium  we  usually  find  only  a  little  peat  on  the  surface  or  in 
thin  beds  alternating  with  silt  and  clay  and  marl.  Sometimes, 
but  only  sometimes,  we  have  evidence  of  the  growth  of  peat  for 
a  long  time,  then  of  the  incoming  of  turbid  water  leaving  beds 
of  clay,  then  again  of  the  tranquil  growth  of  peat.  All  this 
points  to  changes  of  local  conditions  and  shifting  channels 
during  a  gradual  sinking  of  the  area,  for  some  of  the  peat  is 
below  sea  level. 

I  believe  that  the  volume  of  clay  is  much  greater  than  that 
of  peat,  although  from  the  common  occurrence  of  peat  on  the 
surface  and  clay  in  the  depth  the  area  over  which  peat  is  seen  is 
greater.  We  have  not,  however,  the  data  for  estimating  the 
proportion  of  each. 

In  embayed  corners  along  the  river  even  above  Cambridge 
we  find  little  patches  of  peat,  while  on  the  other  hand  in  deep 
excavations  near  the  middle  of  the  valley  we  find  only  thin 
streaks  of  peat  or  peaty  silt.  In  the  trial  boreholes  at  the 
Backs  of  the  Colleges  there  was  only  this  kind  of  record  of  former 
swamp  vegetation. 

Sections  in  Alluvium. 
In  digging  the  foundations  for  the  chimney  of  the  Electric 
Lighting  Works  opposite  Magdalene  College  the  following  section 
was  seen  (Fig.  1,  p.  8). 

1  Lib.  xvi,  cap.  1. 


8  Small  proportion  of  Peat 

Under  the  new  Tennis  Courts  in  Park  Parade  facing  Mid- 
summer Common  the  section  was  somewhat  different  (Fig.  2, 
p.  9). 

While  in  the  pit  dug  some  years  ago  by  Mr  Bullock  at  the 
other  end  of  the  Parade  at  the  lower  end  of  Portugal  Place 
in  the  south-east  coiner  of  the  Common  there  was  a  section 
very  similar  to  the  last  (Fig.  3,  p.  10). 

These    three    sections,    immediately    north    of    Cambridge 


'ZL  __  ZT  ~  ^— — "~  Made  ground 


Black  silt 


7-8' 


Peaty  silt 


Gravel 


Gault 


Fif.  1      Section  seen  in  foundations  of  chimney  for  Electric  Lighting  Works 
near  river  opposite  Magdalene  College,  July,  1892. 

where  the  valley  of  the  Cam  opens  out  on  to  the  Fens,  are 
important  as  showing  the  variations  right  across  the  alluvium 
from  side  to  side  and  the  absence,  here  at  any  rate,  of  any 
indication  of  a  constant  sequence  distinctly  pointing  to  impor- 
tant geographical  changes.  A  section  seen  under  Pembroke 
College  Boat  House  gave  16  feet  of  clay  and  peaty  silt  on  the 
black  gravel  which  here,  as  in  the  borings  at  the  Backs  of  the 
Colleges,  forms   the   base   of  the  alluvium.     About   half  way 


in   Turbiferous  Series 


9 


down  wore  bones  of  horse  and  stag,  bul  I  do  aol  believe  tli.it 
these  are  of  any  great  antiquity,  probably  not  earlier  than 
mediaeval. 

Lower  down    the   river  near   Ely   a    most    important    and 
Thickness     Depth 


sr^^?       [rregular  made  ground 

-~  ~    -^^-c^      Clayey 

"^=      Alluvium 

Peal 


10-12 


2 
2 

4' 6" 


21 


Sand  .iihI  ( :i;i\ el 


*-*-^»-*?»a  *  ^.kJS.2:    Running  Sand 


29'6"    r 


GauH 


Sr„h     8'    to     1" 


Fig.  2.     Section  seen  in  digging  foundations  of  Tennis  Courts  on  Midsummer 

Common.    Cambridge. 

interesting  section  has  recently  been  exposed.  A  new  bridge 
was  built  over  the  Ouse  near  the  railway  station  and  to  obtain 
material  for  easing  the  gradient  up  to  the  bridge  a  pit  was 
sunk  close  to  it  on  the  east  side  of  the  river,  and  was  carried 
down  to  the  Kimmeridge  Clay  thus  giving  a  clear  section  through 
the  whole  of  the  alluvium  (Fig.  4,  p.  1 1). 


10 


Small  proportion  of  Peat 


It  will  be  noticed  that  there  is  very  little  peat  here  and  all 
of  it  was  below  o.d.  The  upper  four  feet  of  the  clayey  peat  (/) 
looked  as  if  the  vegetable  matter  had  been  transported,  perhaps 
from  peat  beds  being  destroyed  by  the  river  higher  up,  and  been 
(anied  down  in  flood  with  the  clay,  while  the  lower  four  feet 
of  peat  (h)  was  only  a  cleaner  sample  of  the  same,  before  the 


Depth 


ggF^v^:'^!';;  12'  6* 

'     13'  2" 


21'  2" 


23'  2" 


Dark  clay,  with  much  carbonaceous  matter,  scattered 

stones,  and  freshwater  shells        ...          ...          ...  4'  0" 

Tough  clay         ...          ...          ...          ...          •••          •••  3'  0" 

Dark  clay  full  of  bits  of  wood         ...          ...          ...  3' 0" 

Light  coloured  clay  full  of  rootlets  ...          ...          ...  2' 6" 

Rusty  sand         ...          ...          ...          ...          ...          •••  8" 

False  bedded  gravel  and  sand  pierced  by  rootlets  8'  0" 

Black  silt  and  gravel  ...          ...          ...          ...          ...  2' 0" 

Gault       23' 2" 


Fig.  3.     Section  seen  in  Bullock's  Pit  in  S.E.  corner  of  Midsummer 

Common. 


in   Turbiferou8  Series 


11 


river  had  cut  down  into  the  clay.  The  trees  in  both/ and  h 
were  not  trees  that  had  grown  on  the  spot  and  bad  been  Mown 
down,  but  were  broken,  water  worn,  and  evidently  transported. 
If  now  we  travel  about  30  miles  a  little  west  of  north  we 
shall  arrive  near  the  shore  of  the  Wash  aboul  half  way  across 
its  southern  coast  line  at  Sutton  Bridge.  Here  I  had  an 
opportunity  of  seeing  (lie  material  of  which  the  alluvium  is 
composed.  With  a  view  to  securing  a  sound  base  for  the 
foundation  of  the  piers  of  the  Midland  and  Greal  Northern 
Railway  bridge  an  excavation  was  made  through  the  whole 
of  the  Fen  Beds  down  to  the  Boulder  Clay  which  as  I  have 
already  stated  was  reached  al  a  depth  of  73  feet.     The  clerk 


a.  Surface  soil 

b.  Clayey  alluvium 

c.  Peaty  alluvium  ... 

d.  Brown  clayey  alluvium 

e.  Peaty  alluvium  ... 
/.  Brown  clayey  peat  with  trees  scattered  throughout 
().  and  lenticular  beds  of  freshwater  shells  in  it 

h.     Peat  with  trees  to  2'  diam.    ... 

Mottled  -re. -n  and  grey  clay  with  lines  of  Band  and 
gravel  giving  ou1   water  ... 
j.     Yellow  clay   with  springs   and    much    rusty   wate 

at  bottom  ... 


(1)  Skull  and  a  few  other  bones  of  horse. 

(2)  Broken  fragments  of  bone. 


7" 
7" 
9" 
V  6" 
9" 

4' 

4' 


4' 

is' 


Scale  8'  to  1' 


Fig.  4.     Section  seen  in  pit  dug  for  material  for  making  up  the  roadway  easl 
of  the  new  bridge  over  the  Ouse  by  the  railway  station,  Ely,   L910. 


12 


Sun  ill  proportion  of  Peat 


of  the   works   kindly   gave   me   the   following    measurements 
I  Fig.  5). 


Depth  Thicknesa 


12' 6"     L2'6" 
16'  6"       4'0" 


36'  0" 


45'  0" 
48'  6" 


9'0" 

:','  6" 

5'  6" 

54'  0"         ,    , 

r,7'  6"       3   6 

61'  0"       3'  6" 
66' 0"       5'  0" 


—     High    water 

( 12'  6"  above  o.D.) 


Ordnance   Datum 
Silt    and  clay 
Low  water 
(6'  0"  below  o.D.) 


Bed  of  rivei 
t-       (17'  6"  below  o.d.) 


Sand  with  shells 
Loam  and  sand 


«*^f 


Ballast  with  shells 


Loam  and    Peal 

Fine  red  ballast  mixed 
with  clay 


5f*ga3*Sp=r^^i^=£'    Blue    and    grey    clay 
mixed  with  sand 


*-B     Ballast  with  flint  and 


Fig.  5.     Section  seen  at  Sutton  Bridge. 

Here  again  we  see  that  the  only  peat  is  a  bed  between 
three  and  four  feet  in  thickness  of  mixed  loam  and  peat  more 
than  40  feet  below  mean  sea  level. 


Peat,   Trees,  Bog-oak,  etc.  13 

From  these  sections  it  is  cleai  that  along  the  direcl  and 
more  permanent  outfall  from  Cambridge  to  the  north,  peat 
tonus  but  a  small  part  of  the  Ken  Beds. 

Peat  is  a  substance  of  so  much  value  as  fuel,  of  such  impor- 
tance to  the  agriculturist,  of  such  commercial  value  m  wh.it 
we  may  call  its  by-products,  and  of  such  scientific  interesl  m 
the  history  of  its  formation  and  the  remains  which  its  antiseptic 
properties  have  preserved,  that  it  has.  as  might  he  expected, 
a  large  literature  of  its  own. 

I  have  before  me  a  list  of  more  than  L50  references  to  peat 
or  to  the  Fens. 

Peat;    Trees  and  other  Plants;    Tarn  Peat 
and  Hill  Peat;    Bog-oak  and  Bog-iron. 

When  we  turn  aside  into  the  areas  cut  off  by  spurs  of 
gravel  and  islands  of  Jurassic  rock,  we  find  wide  and  deep 
masses  of  peat  which  has  grown  and  been  preserved  from 
denudation  in  these  embayed  and  isolated  areas.  Burwell 
Fen,  for  instance,  protected  on  the  north  and  west  by  the 
Cretaceous  ridge  of  Wicken  and  the  Jurassic  ridge  of  Upware, 
furnishes  most  of  the  peat  used  in  the  surrounding  district. 
If  we  travel  about  two  miles  to  the  north-west  from  the  pit 
dug  near  the  railway  station  (see  Fig.  4,  p.  11)  over  the  hill  on 
which  Ely  stands,  we  shall  come  to  West  Fen,  where  there  is 
a  great  mass  of  peat  which  has  grown  in  a  basin  now  almost 
quite  surrounded  by  Kimmeridge  Clay.  In  this  there  is  a  great 
quantity  of  timber  at  a  small  depth  from  the  surface.  The 
tree  trunks  almost  all  lie  with  their  root-end  to  the  south-west, 
but  some  are  broken  off,  some  are  uprooted,  telling  clearly  a 
story  of  growth  on  the  peat  which  had  increased  and  swelled 
till  the  surface  was  lifted  above  the  level  of  Hoods.  Then 
some  change — perhaps  more  rapid  subsidence,  perhaps  changes 
in  the  outfalls — let  in  flood  water,  the  roots  rotted  and 
a  storm  from  the  south-west,  which  was  the  most  exposed 
side  and  the  direction  of  the  prevalent  winds,  laid  them  low. 
The  frequent  occurrence  of  large  funguses,  Hypoxyhn,  Poly- 
porus,  etc.,  points  to  conditions  at  times  unfavourable  to  the 
healthy  growth  of  timber. 


14  Fenland  not  Forest 

It  is  worth  noting  when  trying  to  read  the  story  of  the 
Fens  as  recorded  by  their  fallen  trees  that  in  all  forests  we  find 
now  and  then  a  few  trees  blown  down  together  though  the 
surrounding  trees  are  left.  This  may  be  the  result  of  a  fierce 
eddy  in  the  cycloidal  path  of  the  storm,  but  more  commonly 
it  seems  to  be  due  to  the  fact  that  every  tree  has  its  "play," 
like  a  fishing  rod,  and  recurring  gusts,  not  coinciding  with  its 
rhythm,  sometimes  catch  it  at  a  disadvantage  and  break  or 
blow  it  down. 

The  story  told  by  the  West  Fen  trees  is  quite  different 
from  that  told  by  the  water-borne  and  water-worn  trunks  in 
the  section  by  Ely  station. 

The  same  variable  conditions  prevailed  also  in  the  more 
westerly  tracts  of  the  Fen  Basin,  but  the  above  examples  are 
sufficient  for  our  present  purpose. 

From  the  large  numbers  of  trees  found  in  some  localities 
and  from  records  referring  to  parts  of  the  Fens  as  forest  it  has 
sometimes  been  supposed  that  the  Fens  were  well  wooded,  but 
forest  did  not  generally  and  does  not  now  always  mean  a  wood, 
as  for  example  in  the  case  of  the  deer  forests  of  Scotland. 

When  Ingulph1  says  that  portions  of  the  Fenland  were 
disafforested  by  Henry  I,  Stephen,  Henry  II,  and  Richard, 
who  gave  permission  to  build  upon  the  marshes,  this  probably 
meant  that  they  no  longer  preserved  them  so  strictly,  but 
allowed  people  to  build  on  the  gravel  banks  and  islands  in  them. 
Dugdale,  recording  a  stricter  enforcement  of  game-laws, 
quotes  proceedings  against  certain  persons  in  Whittlesea, 
Thorney  and  Ramsey  for  having  "wasted  all  the  fen  of  Kynges- 
delfe  of  the  alders,  hassacks  and  rushes  so  that  the  King's 
deer  could  not  harbour  there."  He  does  not  mention  forest 
trees. 

In  the  growth  and  accidents  of  vegetation  in  a  swamp 
there  are  some  circumstances  which  are  of  importance  to  note 
with  a  view  to  the  interpretation  of  the  results  observed  in 
the  Fens. 

For  instance  in  fine  weather  there  is  a  constant  lifting 
and  floating  of  the  confervoid  algae  which  grow  on  the  muddy 

1  History  of  Croyland,  Bohn's  edition,  p.  282. 


Various  conditions  of  growth  15 

bed  of  the  stream.  This  is  brought  about  by  the  development 
of  gas  under  the  sun's  influence  in  the  thick  fibrous  growth 
of  the  alga.  The  little  bubbles  give  it  a  silvery  gleam  and 
by  and  by  produce  sufficient  buoyancy  in  the  mass  to  tear  it 
out  and  make  it  rise  to  the  surface  dropping  fine  mud  as  il 
goes  and  thus  making  the  water  turbid.  Other  plants,  such  as 
Utricularia,  Duckweed,  etc.,  have  their  period  of  flotation, 
and  in  the  "Breaking  of  the  Mere"  in  Shropshire  we  have  a 
similar  phenomenon.  In  the  "Floating  Island"  on  Derwent- 
water  the  same  sort  of  thing  is  seen  with  coarser  plants.  All 
these  processes  are  going  on  in  the  meres  and  in  the  streams 
which  meander  through  the  Fens  and  did  so  more  freely  before 
their  reclamation.  But  besides  this,  when  the  top  of  the  spongy 
peat  is  raised  above  the  water  level  and  dries  by  evaporation, 
then  heath,  ferns  and  other  plants  and  at  last  trees  grow  on 
it.  until  accident  submerges  it  all  again. 

This  at  once  shows  why  we  often  find  an  upper  peat  with 
a  different  group  of  plant  remains  resting  upon  a  lower  peal 
with  plants  that  grow  under  water. 

The  most  conspicuous  examples  of  these  various  kinds  of 
peat  we  see  in  the  mountainous  regions  of  the  North  and  West, 
where  the  highest  hills  are  often  capped  with  peat  from  eight 
to  ten  feet  in  thickness,  creeping  over  the  brow  and  hanging 
on  the  steep  mountain  sides.  Sometimes,  close  by,  we  see 
the  gradual  growth  of  peat  from  the  margin  of  a  tarn  where 
only  water- weeds  can  flourish. 

The  "Hill  Peat"  is  made  up  of  Sphagnum  and  other  mosses 
and  of  ferns  and  heather. 

The  "Tarn  Peat"  of  conferva,  potamogeton,  reeds,  etc. 

As  Hill  Peat  now  grows  on  the  heights  and  steeps  where 
no  water  can  stand  and  Tarn  Peat  in  lakes  and  ponds  lying 
in  the  hollows  of  the  mountains  and  moors,  so  the  changes  in 
the  outfalls  and  the  swelling  and  sinking  of  the  peat  have 
given  us  in  the  Fens,  here  the  results  of  a  dry  surface  with  its 
heather  and  ferns  and  trees,  and  there  products  of  water-weeds 
only,  and,  from  the  nature  of  the  case,  the  subaerial  growth 
is  apt  to  be  above  the  subaqueous. 

One  explanation  of  the  growth  of  peat  under  both  of  these 


16  Colour,  Preset  tec  of  Iron,  etc. 

two  very  different  geographical  conditions  is  probably  the 
absence  of  earthworms.  The  work  of  the  earthworm  is  to 
drag  down  and  destroy  decaying  vegetable  matter  and  to  cast 
the  mineral  soil  on  to  the  surface,  but  earthworms  cannot 
live  in  water  or  in  waterlogged  land,  and  where  there  are  no 
earthworms  the  decaying  vegetation  accumulates  in  layer  after 
layer  upon  the  surface,  modified  only  by  newer  growths.  Some 
years  ago  a  great  flood  kept  the  land  along  the  Bin  Brook 
under  water  for  several  days  and  the  earthworms  were  all 
killed,  covering  the  paddock  in  front  of  St  John's  New  Buildings 
in  such  numbers  that  when  they  began  to  decompose  it  was 
quite  disagreeable  to  walk  that  way.  It  reminded  me  of  the 
effects  of  storm  on  the  cocklebeds  at  the  mouth  of  the  Medway, 
where  the  shells  were  washed  out  of  the  mud,  the  animals  died 
on  the  shore  and  the  empty  shells  were  in  time  washed  round 
the  coast  of  Sheppey  to  the  sheltered  corner  at  Shellness. 
Here  they  he  some  ten  feet  deep  and  are  dug  to  furnish  the 
material  for  London  pathways. 

In  those  cases  when  the  storm  had  passed  the  earthworms 
and  the  cockles  came  again,  but  the  Hill  Peat  is  always  full 
of  water  retained  by  the  spongy  Sphagnum  and  similar  plants, 
and  the  Fens  are  or  were  continually,  and  in  some  places 
continuously,  submerged  and  no  earthworms  could  live  under 
such  conditions. 

The  blackness  of  peat  and  of  bog- oak  may  be  largely  but 
certainly  not  wholly  due  to  carbonaceous  matter.  Iron  must 
play  an  important  part.  There  is  in  the  Sedgwick  Museum 
part  of  the  trunk  of  a  Sussex  oak  which  had  grown  over 
some  iron  railings  and  extended  some  eight  inches  or  more 
beyond  the  outside  of  the  part  which  was  originally  driven  in 
to  hold  the  rails.  Mr  Kett  came  upon  the  buried  iron  when 
sawing  up  the  tree  in  his  works  and  kindly  gave  it  to  me.  From 
the  iron  a  deep  black  stain  has  travelled  with  the  sap  along 
the  grain,  as  if  the  iron  of  the  rail  and  the  tannin  of  the  oak 
had  combined  to  produce  an  ink.  The  well-known  occurrence 
of  bog-iron  in  peat  strengthens  this  suggestion.  An  opportunity 
of  observing  this  enveloping  growth  of  wood  round  iron  railings 
is  offered  in  front  of  No.  1,  Benet  Place,  Lensfield  Koad, 


Marl  1 7 

The  trees  in  the  Pens  often  lie  a1  a  3mall  depth  and  when 
exposed  to  surface  changes  perish  by  splitting  along  the 
medullary   rays. 

It  is  not  clear  how  long  it  takes  to  imparl  .1  peaty  stain 
to  bone,  but  we  do  find  a  difference  between  those  which  are 
undoubtedly  very  old  and  others  which  we  have  reason  to 
believe  may  be  more  recent.  Compare  the  almost  black  bones 
of  the  beaver,  for  instance,  with  the  lighl  brown  bones  of  the 
otter  in  the  two  mounted  skeletons  in  the  Sedgwick  Museum. 

Marl. 

"Marl,"  as  commonly  used,  is  Clay  or  Carbonate  of  Lime 
of  a  clayey  texture  or  any  mixture  of  these. 

Beds  of  shell  marl  tell  the  same  tale  as  the  peat.  Shells 
do  not  accumulate  to  any  extent  in  the  bed  of  a  river.  They 
are  pounded  up  and  decomposed  or  rolled  along  and  buried 
where  mud  or  gravel  finds  a  resting  place.  Only  sometimes, 
where  things  of  small  specific  gravity  are  gathered  in  holes 
and  embayed  corners,  a  layer  of  freshwater  shells  may  be  seen. 

But  to  produce  a  bed  of  pure  shell  marl  the  quantity  of 
dead  shells  must  be  very  large  and  the  amount  of  sediment 
carried  over  the  area  very  small,  while  the  margin  of  the  pond 
or  mere  in  which  the  formation  of  such  a  bed  is  possible  must 
have  an  abundant  growth  of  confervoid  algae  and  other  water 
plants  to  furnish  sustenance  for  the  molluscs.  Shell  marl 
therefore  suggests  ponds  and  meres.  Of  course  it  must  be 
borne  in  mind  that  in  a  region  of  hard  water,  such  as  is  yielded 
in  springs  all  along  the  outcrop  of  the  chalk,  there  is  often 
a  considerable  precipitation  of  carbonate  of  lime,  especially 
where  such  plants  as  Chara  help  to  collect  it,  as  the  Callothrix 
and  Leptothrix  help  to  throw  down  the  Geyserite. 

These  beds  of  white  marls,  whether  due  to  shells  or  to  preci- 
pitation, are  thus  of  great  importance  for  our  present  enquiry 
as  they  throw  light  on  the  history  of  the  Fens. 

We  should  have  few  opportunities  of  examining  the  marl 
were  it  not  for  its  value  to  the  agriculturist.  As  it  consists 
of  clay  and  lime,  it  is  not  only  a  useful  fertiliser  bul  also  helps 
to  retain  the  dusty  peat,  which  when   thy  and   pulverised   is 

H.  F.  2 


18  The   Wash 

easily  blown  away.  Moreover,  as  the  marl  occurs  at  a  small 
depth  and  often  over  large  areas,  it  can  commonly  be  obtained 
by  trenching  on  the  ground  where  ii   is  most  wanted. 

The  Wash. 

We  have  now  carried  our  examination  of  the  Fen  Beds 
up  to  the  sea,  but  to  understand  this  interesting  area  we  must 
cross  the  sea  bank  and  see  what  is  happening  in  the  Wash. 
There  is  no  peat  being  formed  there,  nor  is  there  any  quantity 
of  drifted  vegetable  matter  such  as  might  form  peat.  There  are 
marginal  forest  beds  near  Hunstanton  and  Holme,  for  instance, 
and  it  is  not  clear  whether  they  point  to  submergence  or  to  the 
former  existence  of  sand  dunes  or  shingle  beaches  sufficient  to 
keep  out  the  sea  and  allow  the  growth  of  trees  below  high  water- 
level  behind  the  barrier,  such  as  may  be  seen  at  Braunton 
Burrows,  near  Westward  Ho,  or  at  the  mouth  of  the  Somme. 
What  is  the  most  conspicuous  character  of  the  Wash  is  that  the 
upland  waters,  now  controlled  as  to  their  outlet,  keep  open 
the  troughs  and  deeps  while  tidal  action  throws  up  a  number 
of  shifting  banks  of  mud,  sand  and  gravel,  many  of  which  are 
left  dry  at  low  water.  Along  the  quieter  marginal  portions 
fine  sediment  is  laid  down,  and  relaid  when  storms  have 
disturbed  the  surface.  On  these  cockles  and  other  estuarine 
molluscs  thrive.  Before  the  sea  banks  were  constructed  these 
tidal  flats  extended  much  further  inland. 

Littleport  District. 

In  the  light  of  this  evidence  let  us  examine  the  Fen  Beds 
east  of  Littleport,  a  district  of  great  interest  not  only  from 
its  geographical  position  in  relation  to  the  Fens  but  also  from 
the  remains  recently  discovered  there. 

Looking  north  and  west  there  is  no  high  ground  between 
us  and  the  Wash.  If  wTe  could  sweep  out  the  soft  superficial 
deposits  and  abolish  the  sea  banks  the  tide  would  still  ebb  and 
flow  over  the  whole  area. 

If  wre  look  north  and  east  we  see  the  high  ground  stretching 
from  Downham  Market  to  Stoke  Ferry  and  sweeping  round 


Jill  I  Inn   ('In  if  IK 

to  the  south  by  Methwold  and  Feltwel]  and  the  islands  <•! 
Hilgay  and  Southery,  thus  enclosing  a  greal  bay  into  which 
the  Wissey  on  the  north  and  the  Brandon  River  on  the  south 
deliver  the  waters  collected  on   the  eastern  chalk   uplands. 

The  island  known  as  Shippea  Hill  marks  the  trend  of  an 
ancient  barrier  blocking  the  northward  course  of  the  river 
Lark.     (Fig.  6,  p.  29.) 

Here,  then,  it  seems  probable  thai  we  mighl  find  evidence 
of  a  local  change  from  the  conditions  we  now  see  in  the  Wash 
and  those  which  have  resulted  in  the  formation  of  the  Fens. 


Buttery  Clay. 

In  deep  trenching  in  the  Fen  between  Littleport  and 
Shippea  Hill  in  order  to  obtain  clay  for  laying  on  the  peaty 
surface  a  very  fine  unctuous  deposit  was  found  at  a  depth 
of  four  or  five  feet.  The  overlying  Fen  Beds  were  chiefly  peat 
with  lenticular  beds  of  white  marl  and  grey  clay,  obviously 
laid  down  from  time  to  time  in  small  depressions  in  the 
surface  of  the  peat.  This  marl  was  often  largely  made  up  of, 
or  was  at  any  rate  full  of,  freshwater  shells  but  sometimes 
showed  evidence  of  having  been  gathered  on  the  stems  of  Char  i 
which  on  perishing  have  left  small  cylindrical  hollows  pene- 
trating the  partly  consolidated  marl.  Under  these  beds  of  peat 
and  marl  there  was  the  unctuous  clay,  which  is  sometimes 
referred  to  as  the  Buttery  Clay.  It  is  an  estuarine  deposit  like 
that  mentioned  above  as  occurring  in  the  Wash  off  Heacham, 
for  instance.  It  contains  shells  of  Ca/rdium  edule,  Tellina 
(Tacoma)  balthiot,  $cn>bicul<tri<i  pipcntlu,  and  other  estuarine 
shells,  some  of  which  had  the  valves  adherent  or  rather  adjoining, 
for  the  ligament  had  perished.  .Mis  Luddington  has  in  her 
collection  the  bones  of  the  1'rus.  Wild  Hoar  and  Beaver,  obtained 
from  the  peat  above  this  Buttery  Clay. 

On  the  other  or  south-western  side  of  Shippea  Hill,  which 
is  an  island  of  Kimmeridge  Clay,  we  get  further  into  the  embayed 
and  isolated  portions  of  the  Fen  and  we  find  more  peal  in  pro 
portion  to  the  other  deposits  although  it  is  very  thin.     There 
are  still  small  lenticular  beds  of  white  marl  similar  to  that 


20  The  Age  of  the  Fen  Beds 

nearer  Littleport  and  the  peat  rests  upon  Buttery  Clay  of 
unknown  thickness.  In  this  part,  however,  no  shells  have 
yet  been  noticed.  Near  Shippea  Hill  the  peat  has  recently 
been  trenched  with  a  view  to  obtaining  clay  with  which  to 
dress  the  surface  of  the  peat  and  it  was  here,  at  a  depth  of 
four  feet  from  the  surface  and  four  inches  above  the  Buttery 
Clay,  that  the  human  bones  described  below  (pp.  27 — 35)  were 
found. 

The  Age  of  the   Fen  Beds. 

Now  we  may  enquire  what  are  the  limits  within  which  we 
may  speculate  as  to  the  age  of  the  Fen  Beds. 

These  Turbiferous  deposits  all  belong  to  one  stage,  though 
it  may  be  one  of  long  duration.  They  are  sharply  separated 
from  the  Areniferous  deposits,  i.e.  the  sands  and  gravels  of 
the  terraces  and  spurs  which  always  pass  under  and,  in  fairly 
large  sections,  can  always  be  clearly  distinguished  from  the 
resorted  layers  at  the  base  of  the  Fen  Beds. 

There  is  no  definite  chronological  succession  which  will 
hold  throughout  the  Fens.  The  variations  observed  are  geo- 
graphical— clay,  marl,  peat,  etc.,  alternating  in  different  order 
in  different  localities  and  subaerial,  fluviatile,  estuarine,  and 
marine,  having  only  a  changing  topographical  significance. 

The  Fen  Beds  crept  over  an  area  where  the  underlying 
formation  had  been  undergoing  vicissitudes  due  to  slow  geo- 
graphical changes — changes  which,  being  at  sea  level  and 
near  the  conflict  of  tides  and  upland  water,  produced  irregular 
but  often  important  results. 

There  is  not  in  the  Fens  any  continuous  record  of  what  took 
place  between  the  age  in  which  the  Little  Downham  Rhinoceros 
was  buried  in  the  gravel  and  that  in  which  the  Neolithic  hunters 
poleaxed  the  Urus  in  the  peat  near  Burwell. 

Palaeontology  of  Fens. 

Nor  do  we  find  any  constant  succession  in  the  fauna  and 
flora  in  the  sections  in  the  Fens  any  more  than  we  find  a  uniform 
distribution  of  plants  and  animals  over  the  surface  to-day. 
The  most  numerous  and  largest  specimens  of  the  Urus  I  have 


Palaeontology  of  Fens  21 

obtained  from  near  Esleham:  the  bes1  preserved  Beaver  bones 
from  Burwell.  .Modern  changes  of  conditions  have  limited  the 
district  in  which  the  fen  fern  (Thelypteris)  or  the  swallow  tailed 
butterfly  may  now  be  -ecu;  but  nature  in  old  times  produced 
as  great  changes  in  local  conditions  as  those  now  due  to  human 
agency. 

When  we  compare  the  fauna  of  the  Areniferous  Series  with 
that  of  the  Turbiferous,  although  there  is  not  an  entire  sweeping 
away  of  the  older  vertebrate  and  invertebrate  forms  of  life 
and  an  introduction  of  newer,  there  is  a  marked  change  in  the 
whole    facies. 

There  is  plenty  of  evidence  about  Cambridge  of  the  gradual 
extermination  of  species  still  going  mi.  Indeed.  I  feel  inclined 
to  say  that  there  is  no  such  thing  as  a  Holocene  age. 
I  remember  land  shells  being  common  of  which  it  is  difficult 
now  to  find  live  specimens,  and  my  wife1  has  shown  how  the 
mollusca  are  being  differentiated  in  isolated  ponds  left  here 
and  there  along  the  ancient  river  courses  above  the  town. 

But  we  have  not  in  older  beds  of  the  Turbiferous  or  newer 
beds  of  the  Areniferous  Series  any  suggestion  of  continuity 
between  the  two.  There  must  have  been  between  them  an 
unrepresented  period  of  considerable  duration  in  which  very 
important  changes  were  brought  about.  Perhaps  it  was  then 
that  England  became  an  island  and  unsuitable  for  most  of 
the  life  of  the  Areniferous  age. 

Not  only  have  we  in  the  Turbiferous  as  compared  with  the 
Areniferous  Series  a  change  of  facies  but  we  have  many  "  repre- 
sentative forms,"  a  point  to  which  that  keen  naturalist, 
Edward  Forbes,  always  attached  great  importance. 

We  have  for  instance  in  the  Fen  Beds  the  Brown  Bear 
(Ursus  arctos)  with  his  flat  pig-like  skull,  instead  of  the  Grizzly 
(Ursus  ferox)  of  the  Gravels  with  his  broad  skull  and  front 
bombe. 

If  we  turn  to  the  horned  cattle  we  shall  find  a  confirmation 
of  the  view  that  there  was  not  an  entire  break  between   the 

1  "On  the  Mollusca  of  the  Pleistocene  Gravels  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Cambridge,"  by  Mrs  MKKenny  Hughes.    '•'•»/.  Mag.  Decade  3,  VoL  v,  No.  6, 

May    ISSS.    p.    | !i:{. 


22  Palaeontology  of  Fens 

Tmbiferous  and  Areniferous  fauna  for  the  Urns  (Bos  primi- 
genius)  occurs  in  both.  This  species  became  extinct  in  Britain 
in  the  Turbiferous  period  and  before  the  coming  of  the  Romans, 
for  no  trace  of  it  seems  to  have  been  found  with  Roman 
remains  in  this  country;  and  indeed  when  we  remember  the 
numerous  tribes,  the  dense  population  and  high  civilisation 
of  the  natives  of  Britain  in  Roman  times  it  seems  improbable 
that  they  can  have  tolerated  such  a  formidable  beast  as  this 
wild  bull  around  their  cultivated  land. 

Some  confusion  has  arisen  as  to  the  description  and  the 
names  of  the  Urus  and  the  Bison.  Caesar,  who  was  not  a  big 
game  hunter  and  probably  never  saw  either,  has  given  under 
the  name  Urus  a  description  which  evidently  mixes  up  the 
characters  of  both.  Both  existed  on  the  continent  down  to 
quite  recent  times  and  the  Bison  is  still  found  in  Poland,  but 
later  writers  also  have  evidently  confounded  them.  For  instance, 
the  Augsburg  picture  of  the  Urus  is  correct,  but  Herberstein's, 
which  also  is  said  to  represent  the  Urus,  is  obviously  that  of  a 
Bison.     I  have  gone  into  this  question  more  fully  elsewhere1. 

The  Urus  (Bos  primigenius)  is  common  in  the  Fen  Beds 
and  is  of  special  importance  for  our  present  enquiry,  as  there 
is  in  the  Sedgwick  Museum  a  skull  of  this  species  found  in 
Burwell  Fen  with  a  Neolithic  flint  implement  sticking  in  it. 
The  implement  is  thin,  nearly  parallel  sided,  rough  dressed, 
except  on  the  front  edge  which  is  ground,  and  it  is  made  of  the 
black  south-country  flint.  It  is  very  different  in  every  respect 
from  the  thick  bulging  implements  with  curved  outlines,  which 
being  made  of  the  mottled  grey  north-country  flint  or  of  felstone 
or  greenstone  suggest  importation  from  a  different  and  probably 
more  northerly  source. 

This  gives  us  a  useful  synchronism  of  peat,  a  Neolithic 
implement  of  a  special  well-marked  type,  and  the  Urus. 

1  "The  Evolution  of  the  British  Breeds  of  Cattle,"  Journ.  B.  Agric.  Soc. 
Vol.  v,  Ser.  3,  pp.  561 — 563,  1894.  "On  the  more  important  Breeds  of 
Cattle  which  have  been  recognised  in  the  British  Isles  in  successive  periods, 
and  their  relation  to  other  archaeological  and  historical  discoveries,"  Archaeo- 
logia,  Vol.  v,  Ser.  3,  pp.  125—158,  1896.  Cf.  also  Morse,  E.  W.,  "The 
Ancestry  of  domesticated  Cattle,"  Twenty-seventh  Annual  Report  of  the 
Bureau  of  Animal  Industry,  191(1,  Department  of  Agriculture,  U.S.A. 


Palaeontology  of  Fens  23 

The  Bison  is  the  characteristic  ox  of  the  Gravels  and  never 
occurs  in  the  Fen  Beds;  while  the  Tins,  as  I  have  pointed  out 
above,  occurs  in  both  the  Turbiferous  and  Axeniferous  depo 

Bos  longifrons  is  the  characteristic  ox  of  the  Fen  Beds  and 
never  occurs  in  the  Gravels.  It  is  the  breed  which  the  Rom: 
found  here,  and  we  dig  up  its  hones  almosl  wherever  we  find 
Roman  remains.  I  cannot  adduce  any  satisfactory  evidence 
that  it  was  wild,  thai  is  to  say  more  wild  than  the  Welsh 
cattle  or  ponies  or  sheep  which  roam  freely  over  wide  tracts 
of  almost  uninhabited  country.  This  species,  like  the  I  ins. 
has  horns  pointing  forward,  but  the  cattle  introduced  by  the 
Romans  had  upturned  lyre-shaped  horns,  as  in  the  modern 
Italian,  the  Chillingham  or  our  typical  uncrossed  Ayrshire 
breed,  and  soon  we  notice  the  effect  of  crossing  the  small  native 
cattle  (Bos  longifrons)  with  the  larger  Roman  breed. 

The  Horse  appears  to  have  lived  continuously  throughout 
Pleistocene  times  down  to  the  present  day  and  to  have  been 
always  used  for  food.  Unfortunately  the  skull  of  a  horse  is 
thin  and  fragile  and  therefore  it  has  been  difficult  to  obtain 
a  series  sufficiently  complete  to  found  any  considerable 
generalisations  upon  it.  The  animal  found  in  the  peat  and 
alluvium  appears  to  have  been  a  small  sized,  long  faced 
pony. 

The  appearances  and  reappearances  of  the  different  kinds 
of  deer  is  a  very  interesting  question,  but  it  will  be  more  easily 
treated  when  I  come  to  speak  of  the  Gravels  of  East  Anglia. 
I  will  onlv  point  out  now  that  neither  of  the  deer  with  palmated 
antlers  properly  belongs  to  the  Turbiferous  series.  The  great 
Irish  Elk  (Cervus  megacerus)  has  not  been  found  in  the  Fen 
Beds.  Indeed  it  is  not  clear  that  in  Ireland  it  occurs  in  the 
peat.  The  most  careful  and  trustworthy  descriptions  seem 
to  show  that  its  bones  lie  either  in  or  on  top  of  the  clays  on 
which  the  peat  grew. 

The  other  and  smaller  deer  with  palmated  antlers,  namely, 
the  Fallow  deer  (Corns  daunt),  were  reintroduced,  probably 
by  the  Romans,  and  although  some  of  them  have  got  buried 
in  the  alluvium  or  newer  peat  in  the  course  of  the  L500 
years  or  so  that  they  have   been   hunted   in   royal  warrens  m 


24  Palaeontology  of  Fens 

East  Anglia,  they  cannot  be  regarded  as  indigenous  or  indicative 
of  climate  or  other  local  conditions. 

Remains  of  the  Red  deer  (Cervus  elaphus)  and  of  the  Roe 
deer  (Cervus  capreolus)  are  common  in  the  Fen  Beds;  both 
occur  in  the  Gravels  also:  and  both  are  still  wild  in  the  British 
Isles.  Unlike  the  Red  deer,  which  lives  on  the  open  moorland, 
the  Roe  deer  lives  in  woods  and  forests.  And  this  is  an 
interesting  lad  in  its  bearing  upon  our  inferences  as  to  the 
character  of  the  country  be  loir  the  reclamation  of  the  Fens  and 
the  destruction  of  the  plateau  forest.  The  open  downs  and 
the  spurs  and  islands  of  the  fenlands  offered  the  Red  deer  a 
congenial  feeding  ground,  while  the  thickets  on  the  edge  of 
the  upland  forest  and  the  bosky  patches  along  the  margins  of 
the  lowland  swamps  provided  covert  for  the  Roe  deer.  Sheep 
and  goat  are  found  in  the  peat  and  the  alluvium,  but  it  is  not 
easy  to  tell  the  age  of  the  bones.  They  do  generally  appear  to 
be  of  that  lighter  brown  colour  which  is  characteristic  of  remains 
from  newer  peat  as  compared  with  the  black  bones  which  seem 
to  belong  to  the  older  and  more  decomposed  peat.  The  sheep  is 
probably  a  late  introduction  and  is  never  found  in  the  Terrace 
Gravel  (see  Geol.  Mag.  Decade  2,  Vol.  x,  No.  10,  p.  454). 

The  Wild  Boar  (Sus  scrofa)  is  fairly  common. 

It  is  remarkable  that  we  get  very  few  remains  of  Wolf, 
although  it  is  not  much  more  than  200  years  since  the  last  was 
killed.  There  is  in  the  Sedgwick  Museum  one  fairly  complete 
skeleton,  found  a  long  time  ago  in  Burwell  Fen  and  I  have 
recently  obtained  another  from  the  same  locality.  There  do 
not  seem  to  be  any  obvious  and  constant  characters  by  which 
we  can  distinguish  a  wolf  from  a  dog,  and  Britain  was  cele- 
brated for  its  large  and  fierce  dogs.  The  bones  of  the  Eskimo 
dogs  are  very  wolf -like,  but  they  are  frequently  crossed  with  wolf. 

Perhaps  the  most  interesting  animal  whose  remains  are 
found  in  the  Fens  is  the  Beaver.  Why  do  we  not  find  here  and 
there  a  beaver  dam?  Perhaps  it  is  because  we  have  not  been 
on  the  look-out  for  it,  and  the  peat-cutters  would  not  have  seen 
anything  remarkable  in  the  occurrence  of  a  quantity  of  timber 
anywhere  in  the  Fens.  We  must  suppose  that  the  peat  which 
often  contains  whole  forests  of  trees  and  even  canoes  would  have 


Palaeontology  of  Fens  25 

preserved  the  timber  of  the  beaver  dam.  It  is  an  animal  too 
which  mighl  have  contributed  largely  towards  the  formation 
of  the  Fens  by  holding  up  and  diverting  meandering  streams. 
Perhaps  it  did  not  make  dams  down  in  the  Fens,  and  the 
skeletons  we  find  are  those  <>[  Btray  individuals  or  of  dr.nl 
animals  which  have  floated  down  from  dams  near  Trumpington 
or  Chesterf'ord  ;  very  suitable  places  lor  them.  We  want  more 
evidence  about   tin'  fen  beaver. 

1  have  heard  that  there  ate  heavers  in  th.'  Danube  which 
do  not  make  dams,  but  anion"  those  introduced  into  this  country 
in  recent  years  the  dam  building  instinct  seems  t<>  have  survived 
the  change.  The  beavers  on  the  Marquis  of  Bute's  property 
in  Scotland  cut  down  trees  and  built  dams  as  did  the  beavers 
in  Sir  Edmund  Loder's  park  in  Sussex,  and  even  in  the  Zoolo- 
gical Gardens  they  recently  constructed  a  "lodge."  We  have 
not  found  the  beaver  in   the  Gravels. 

Part  of  the  skull  of  a  Walrus  was  broughl  to  us  a  long  time 
ago  and  said  to  have  been  found  in  the  peat.  But  it  is  a  very 
suspicious  case.  It  does  not  look  like  a  bone  that  had  been 
long  entombed  in  peat,  and  we  are  not  so  far  from  the  coasl 
as  to  make  it  improbable  that  it  was  carried  there  by  some 
sailor  returning  home  from  northern  seas. 

Bones  of  Cetaceans  are  thrown  up  on  the  shore  near  Hun- 
stanton, and  Seals  are  still  not  uncommon  in  the  Wash,  so 
that  we  need  not  attach  much  importance  to  the  occurrence 
in  marine  silt  of  Whale,  Grampus,  Porpoise,  and  such  like. 

Birds. 

We  have  paid  much  attention  to  the  birds  of  the  Fens, 
partly  because  of  the  occurrence  of  some  unexpected  species, 
and  also  because  of  the  absence,  so  far  as  our  collection  goes, 
of  species  of  which  we  should  expect  to  find  large  numbers. 

Perhaps  the  most  interesting  are  the  remains  of  Pelican 
(P.  crispus  or  onocrataVus)1.     Of  this  we  have  two  bones,  not 

1  Annates  des  Sciences  Naturelles,  Zool.  (•"-),  Vol.  vm.  PI.  It,  pp.  285     293. 
Ibis,    ISfis.    pp.  363     370,   Proc.  Zool.  Soc.    1868,  p.  2.     Trans.   Norfolk  and 
Norwich   Naturalists  Soc.   Vol.  vn.  Pt  2,    L901      Oeol.    Mag.    No     147,  N     B 
Dec.    t.  Vol.  \  in,  No.  9,  p.  422. 

■2     5 


•_><>  Birds 

associated  nor  in  the  same  state  of  preservation.  The  deter- 
mination we  have  on  the  authority  of  Alphonse  Milne  Edwards 
and  Professor  Alfred  Newton.  One  of  the  bones  is  that  of  a 
bird  so  young  that  it  cannot  have  flown  over  but  shows  that 
it  must  have  been  hatched  or  carried  here. 

Of  the  Crane  (Grits  cinerea)  we  have  a  great  number  of  bones 
but  of  the  common  Heron  not  one.  I  have  placed  a  recent 
skeleton  of  heron  in  the  case  to  help  us  to  look  out  for  and 
determine  any  that  may  turn  up.  Bones  of  the  Bittern 
(Botaurus  or  Ardea  stellaris)  are  quite  common,  as  are  those 
of  the  Mute  or  tame  Swan  (Cygnns  olor)  as  well  as  of  the  Hooper 
or  wild  Swan  (Cygnus  musicus  or  ferns).  Goose  (Anser)  and 
Duck  (Anas)  are  not  so  numerous  as  one  might  have  expected. 
The  Grey  Goose  (Anser  fer  us)  and  the  Mallard  (Anas  boscas) 
are  the  most  common,  but  other  species  are  found,  as  for 
instance  Anas  grecca.  We  have  also  the  Red  Breasted  Mer- 
ganser (Mergus  senator),  and  the  Smew  (M  erg  us  albellus), 
the  Razor  Bill  (Aha  tarda),  the  Woodcock  (Scohpax  rusticola), 
the  Water  Hen  (Gallinula  chhropus)  and  a  few  bones  of  a 
Limicoline  bird,  most  likely  a  lapwing.  We  have  found  the 
skull,  but  no  more,  of  the  White-tailed  or  Sea  Eagle  (Haliaetus 
albicilla).  The  whole  is  a  strangely  small  collection  considering 
all  the  circumstances. 

We  find  in  the  Fens  of  course  everything  of  later  date, 
down  to  the  drowned  animals  of  last  winter's  storm,  or  the 
stranded  pike  left  when  the  flood  went  down.  It  is  a  curious 
fact  and  very  like  instinct  at  fault  that  in  floods  the  pike 
wander  into  shallow  water  and  linger  in  the  hollows  till  too 
late  to  get  back  to  the  river,  so  that  large  numbers  of  them 
are  found  dead  when  the  water  has  soaked  in  or  evaporated. 
An  old  man  told  me  that  he  well  remembered  when  pike  were 
more  abundant  they  used  to  dig  holes  along  the  margin  when 
the  flood  was  rising  and  when  it  went  down  commonly  found 
several  fine  pike  in  them.  This  explains  why  we  so  often 
find  the  bones  of  pike  in  the  peat,  but  where  did  the  pike 
get  into  a  habit  so  little  conducive  to  the  survival  of  the 
species  ? 

Although  we  notice  at  the  present  day  a  constant  change 


Man  27 

in  the  mollusca,  their  genera]  continuity  throughoul   the  long 

ages  from  pre  glacial  times  is  a  very  remarkable  fact. 

The  presence  of  Corbicula  fluminalis  and  Unio  littoralis  in 
the  Gravels  characterized  by  the  cold-climate  group  of  mammals 
such  as  Rhinoceros  tichorhinus  and  Elephas  primigenius,  the 
absence  of  those  shells  from  the  deposits  in  which  /,'//.  merchii 
and  E.  antiquus  are  the  representative  forms,  and  I  heir  existence 
now  only  in  more  southern  latitudes,  as  France,  Sicily  or  the 
Nile,  but  not  in  our  Turbiferous  Series,  lay  before  us  a  series 
of   apparent   inconsistencies  not   easy  of  explanation. 

Man. 

Every  step  in  the  line  of  enquiry  we  have  been  following, 
from  whatever  point  of  view  we  have  regarded  the  evidence, 
has  forced  upon  us  the  conclusion  that  a  long  interval  elapsed 
between  the  Areniferous  and  Turbiferous  series  as  seen  in  the 
Fens;  and  yet,  having  regard  to  the  geographical  history  of 
the  area  with  which  we  commenced,  we  cannot  but  feel  that  the 
various  deposits  represent  only  episodes  in  a  continuous  slow 
development  due  to  changes  of  level  both  here  and  further 
afield  and  the  accidents  incidental  to  denudation. 

But  the  particular  deposits  which  we  are  examining  happen 
to  have  been  laid  down  near  sea  level  where  small  changes 
produce  great  effects.  We  may  feel  assured  that  over  the 
adjoining  higher  ground  the  changes  would  have  been  imper- 
ceptible when  they  were  occurring  and  the  results  hardly 
noticeable. 

If  the  Fen  Beds  include  nearly  the  whole  of  the  Neolithic 
stage  the  idea  that  glacial  conditions  then  prevailed  over  the 
adjoining  higher  ground  is  quite  untenable. 

So  far  everything  has  taught  us  that  the  Fens  occupy  a 
well-defined  position  in  the  evolution  of  the  geographical 
features  of  East  Anglia  and  also  that  the  fauna  is  distinctive, 
and,  having  regard  to  the  whole  facies,  quite  different  from 
that  of  the  sands  and  gravels  which  occur  at  various  levels 
all  round  and  pass  under  the  Turbiferous  Series  of  the  Fens. 

We  will  now  enquire  what  is  the  place  of  t  hese  deposits  in  t  he 
"hierarchy"  based  upon  the  remains  of  man  and  his  handiwork. 


28  Man 

No  Palaeolithic  remains  have  ever  been  found  in  the  Fen 
deposits.  We  must  not  infer  from  this  that  there  is  every- 
where evidence  of  a  similar  break  or  long  interval  of  time 
between  the  Palaeolithic  and  Neolithic  ages.  There  are  else- 
where remains  of  man  and  his  handiwork  which  we  must  refer 
to  later  Palaeolithic  than  anything  found  in  the  Areniferous 
Series  just  near  the  Fen  Beds,  and  there  are,  not  far  off, 
remains  of  man's  handiwrork  which  appear  to  belong  to  the 
Neolithic  age,  but  to  an  earlier  part  of  it  than  anything  yet 
found  in  association  with  the  Fen  Beds. 

The  newer  Palaeolithic  remains  referred  to  occur  chiefly  in 
caves  and  the  older  Neolithic  objects  are  for  the  most  part 
transitional  forms  of  implement  found  on  the  surface  in  various 
places  around  but  outside  the  Fens  and  in  the  great  manu- 
factures of  implements  at  Cissbury  and  Grimes  Graves,  in 
which  we  can  study  the  embryology  of  Neolithic  implements 
and  observe  the  development  of  forms  suggested  by  those  of 
Palaeolithic  age  or  by  nature.  The  sequence  and  classification 
adopted  in  these  groups,  both  those  of  later  Palaeolithic  and 
those  of  earlier  Neolithic  age,  are  confirmed  by  an  examination 
of  the  contemporary  fauna;  the  Areniferous  facies  prevailing 
in  the  caves  and  the  Turbiferous  facies  characterising  the  pits 
and  refuse-heaps  of  Cissbury  and  Grimes  Graves. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  these  ancient  flint  workings, 
in  which  we  find  the  best  examples  of  transitional  forms,  have 
both  of  them  some  suggestion  of  remote  age.  The  pits 
from  which  the  flint  was  procured  at  Cissbury  are  covered 
by  the  ramparts  of  an  ancient  British  camp  and  the  ground 
near  Grimes  Graves  has  yielded  Palaeolithic  implements 
in  situ  in  small  rain-wash  hollows  close  by — as  seen  near 
"Botany  Bay."  Palaeolithic  man  came  into  this  area  some- 
time after  the  uplift  of  East  Anglia  out  of  the  Glacial  Sea 
and  was  here  through  the  period  of  denudation  and  formation 
of  liver  terraces  which  ensued  and  the  age  of  depression  which 
followed.  But  Neolithic  man  belongs  to  the  later  part  of  that 
period  of  depression  when  the  ends  of  some  of  the  river  gravels 
were  again  depressed  below  sea  level  and  the  valleys  had  scarcely 
sufficient  fall  for  the  rivers  to  flow  freely  to  the  sea.     In  the 


Man  29 

stagnant  swamps  and  meres  thus  caused  the  Fen  deposits  grew, 
and  in  this  time  the  Shippea  man  mel  his  death  mired  in  the 
watery   peal    of  the  then    nndrained   fens. 

Unman  bones  have  not  been  very  often  found  in  the  I 
and  when  they  do  occur  it  is  not  always  easj  to  •'••  whethei 
they  really  belong  to  the  age  of  the  peal  in  which  they  are 
found  or  may  not  be  the  remains  of  someone  mired  in  the  bog 
or  drowned  in  one  of  the  later  filled  up  ditches.  That  they 
have  long  been  buried  in  the  peal  is  often  obvious  from  the 
colour  and  condition  of  the  bone.  By  the  kindness  ol  oui 
friends  Mt  and  Mrs  Luddington  my  wife  and  I  received  early 
information  of  the  discovery  of  human  bones  in  trenching  on 


re.  Kimmeridge  Clay  forming  Shippea  Sill,  on  which  monastic  buildings  in 
connection  with  Ely  Cathedral  formerlj  sto<  d. 

b.  Patches  of  rusty  flint  gravel. 

c.  Peat  with  bones  of  beaver,  boar,  arus,  etc. 

d.  Shell  Marl,  occurring  in  lenticular  beds  of  limited  extent  in  the  uppei 
part  of  the  peat,  sometimes  in  one  bed  as  at  d  and  sometimes  in  several  distinct 
beds  as  at  d'. 

e.  "Buttery  Clay";  full  of  cockleshells  etc.  at  e,  but  at  e'  containing  only 
freshwater  shells  and  pieces  of  wood. 

+   Position  of  skeleton. 
<p  Dressed  flint  flake  on  surface. 

Fig.  (i.     Diagram  Section  across  Shippea   Hill. 

some  of  their  property  in  the  Fen  close  to  Shippea  Hill  near 
Littleport  and  we  were  able  to  examine  the  section  and  get 
some  of  the  bones  out  of  the  peat  ourselves  (Fig.  6).  A  deposit 
of  about  4' 6"  of  peat  with  small  thin  lenticular  beds  of  shell 
marl  here  rested  on  lead  coloured  alluvial  clay.  In  the  base 
of  the  peat  about  four  inches  above  the  Buttery  Clay  a  human 
skeleton  was  found  bunched  up  and  crowded  into  a  small 
space,  less  than  two  feel  square,  as  if  the  body  had  settled  down 
vertically. 

Some  of  the  bones  were  broken  and   much  decayed,  while 
others,  when  carefully  extracted,  dried   and    helped   oul    with 


30  Man 

a  little  thin  glue,  became  very  sound  and  showed  by  the  surface 
markings  that  they  had  suffered  only  from  the  moisture  and 
not  from  any  wear  in  transport. 

The  most  interesting  point  about  them  is  the  protuberant 
brow,  which,  when  first  seen  on  the  detached  frontal  bone, 
before  the  skull  had  been  restored,  suggested  comparison  with 
that  of  the  Neanderthal  man. 

Much  greater  importance  was  attached  to  that  character 
when  the  Neanderthal  skull  was  found. 

When  I  announced  the  discovery  of  the  Shippea  man  the 
point  on  which  I  laid  most  stress  was  that,  notwithstanding 
his  protuberant  brow,  he  could  not  possibly  be  of  the  age  of 
the  deposits  to  which  the  Neanderthal  man  was  referred. 
I  stated  "my  own  conviction  that  the  peat  in  which  the  Shippea 
man  was  found  cannot  be  older  than  Neolithic  times  and  may 
be  much  newer"  and,  believing  that  similar  prominent  brow 
ridges  are  not  uncommon  to-day,  I  suggested  that  he  might 
be  even  as  late  as  the  time  of  the  monks  of  Ely  who  had  a 
Retreat  on  Shippea  Hill. 

The  best  authorities  who  have  seen  the  skull  since  it  has 
been  restored  by  Mr  C.  E.  Gray,  our  skilful  First  Attendant 
in  the  Sedgwick  Museum,  refer  it  to  the  Bronze  Age  which  falls 
well  within  the  limits  which  I  assigned. 

This  skull  is  unique  among  the  few  that  I  have  obtained 
from  the  Fens.  Dr  Duckworth  has  described1  most  of  these, 
and  I  subjoin  a  description  of  the  Shippea  man  by  Professor 
Alexander  Macalister. 


Description  of  the  Shippea  Man  by 
Prof.  A.  Macalister. 

"The  calvaria  is  large,  dark  coloured  and  much  broken. 
The  base,  facial  bones  and  part  of  the  left  brow  ridge  and 
glabella  are  gone.  The  sutures  are  coarsely  toothed  and 
visible  superficially  although  ankylosis  has  set  in  in  the  inner 
face.  The  bone  is  fairly  thick  (8-10  mm.),  and  on  the  inner 
face  the  pacchionian  pits  are  large  and  deep  on  each  side  of 

1  Duckworth  and  Shore,  Man,  No.  85,  1911,  pp.  134,  139. 


Man  :;i 

the  middle  line  especially  m  the  bregmatic  pari  of  the  frontal 
and  the  post-bregmatic  pari  of  fche  parietals.  The  superior 
longitudinal  groove  is  deep  bu1  narrow,  and,  as  Ear  as  the  broken 
conditio!]  allows  definite  bracing,  the  cerebral  convolution 
impressions  are  of  the  typical  pattern. 


■M^Y#tTTa''"r 


Fig.  7. 


•+'|liil|'iil|.W|'Mj'.'l: 


itmrr 

9  '    \I0 


"The  striking  feature  is  the  prominent  brow  ridge  due  to 
the  large  frontal  sinus.  The  glabella  was  probably  prominenl 
and  the  margins  on  each  side  are  large  and  rough  and  extend 
outwards  to  the  supraorbital  notches.  The  outer  pari  of  the 
supraorbital  margin  and  the  processus  jugalia  are  thick,  eon-.' 
and  prominent  (Fig.  7). 


\)'l 


Man 


"In  norma  verticalis  the  skull  is  ovoid-pentagonoid  euryme- 
topic  with  conspicuous  rounded  parietal  eminences,  slight 
flattening  at  the  obelion  and  a  convex  planum  interparietale 
below  it  (Fig.  8). 

"In  norma  lateralis  the  brow  ridges  are  conspicuous; 
above  them  is  the  sulcus  transversus  from  which  the  frontal 
ascends   with   a    fairly    uniform   curve    to   the   bregma.     The 


iAi|n\i|iniWii|iili  iiWiiIii'm1i|iiWiiIi riili|liA|linili/i|liA|ni\|liA|liiUil|iii)| 


Kg.  8. 


frontal  sagittal  arc  above  the  ophryon  measures  112  mm. 
and  its  chord  116.  Behind  the  bregma  the  parietals  along  the 
front  half  of  the  sagittal  suture  have  a  fairly  flat  outline  to  the 
medio-parietal  region,  behind  which  the  flattened  obelion  is 
continued  downwards  with  a  uniform  slope  to  the  middle  of  the 
planum  interparietale  whence  it  probably  descended  by  a  much 


Man 


33 


steeper  curve  to  the  inioii.  wliirli  is  lost.  The  parietal  sagittal 
arc,  including  the  region  where  there  was  probably  a  Bupra- 
larabdoid  ossicle,  was  about  L 40  mm.  and  its  chord  121  but  the 
curve  is  not  uniform. 

"In  norma  occipitalis  the  sagittal  suture  appears  at  the 
summit  of  a  ridge  whose  parietal  sides  slope  outwards  forming 
with  each  other  an  angle  of  138°,  as  far  as  t  he  parietal  eminei 
From  these  the  sides  drop  vertically  dowD  to  the  large  mastoid 
processes.  The  intermastoid  width  at  the  tips  of  the  processes 
is  115,  but  at  the  supramastoid  crest  is  148  (Fig 


[Inches   |  I'  I  I2  I  f 

hlii|ii'ii|irii|ii'ii|ii'i'  n'n|iili|)iii(iiii/nii  h'ii;'h!iMj'  .'■  '  '  frtiWnWn 


Kb.  9. 


"In  norma  frontalis  the  conspicuous  feature  is  the  brow  ridge. 
This  gives  a  kind  of  superficial  suggestion  of  a  Neanderthaloid 
shape,  but  the  broad  and  well  arched  frontal  dispels  the  illusory 
likeness.  The  jugal  processes  jut  out  giving  a  biorbital  breadth 
of  115  mm.  while  the  least  frontal  width  is  97  and  the  bistephanic 
expands  to  125.  There  is  a  slight  median  ridge  on  the  frontal 
ascending  from  the  ophryon,  at  first  narrow  but  expanding 
at  the  bregma  to  50mm.  The  surface  of  this  elevated  area 
is  a  little  smoother  than  that  of  the  bone  on  each  side  of  it. 

"  The  other  long  bones  are  mostly  broken  at  their  extremities . 


34 


Man 


The  femora  are  strong  and  platymeric.  The  postero-lateral 
rounded  edge,  which  bears  on  its  hinder  face  the  insertion  of 
the  gluteus  maxinius.  taken  in  connexion  with  the  projection 
of  the  thin  medial  margin  of  the  shaft  below  the  tuberculum 
colli  inferior  causes  the  upper  end  of  the  shaft  to  appear  flattened. 
The  index  of  platymeria  is  -55.  The  femoral  length  cannot 
have  been  less  than  471  mm.  The  man  was  probably  of  middle 
stature,  not  a  giant  as  was  the  Gristhorpe  man.  The  tibiae 
are  also  broken  at  their  ends,  they  are  eurycnemic  (index  -80) 
with  sharp  sinuous  shin  and  flat  back,  the  length  may  have 


I'nUiil'i'iijiiii  iiWiililnUili/nli  iiliiUimiilMilii'iiliiUiiWiiyiiliAi 


ilii  nil  pin  nil  nil  nVpifnTfritifiih  fiiiininmn 
MM  1/   '    12  '    13  !    k  '     15  '    \6 

Fig.   10. 


n|h!i|(iii|liP|fii' 
7  '     Is  '     13 


been  between  335  and  340  mm.  The  humeri  are  also  bones 
with  strong  muscular  crests,  and  the  ulnae  are  smooth  and 
long.  The  fibula  was  channelled.  There  is  nothing  in  the 
bone-features  which  is  inconsistent  with  the  reference  of  the 
skull  to  the  Brachycephalic  Bronze  Age  race. 

"In  the  following  Table  are  recorded  the  measurements 
of  the  different  regions.  The  two  crania  which  I  have  selected 
to  compare  with  it  are  (1)  a  Round-barrow  skull  from  near 
Stonehenge  (No.  179  in  our  Collection)  and  (2)  the  Gristhorpe 


Mini 


.,.> 


skull,    to 
likeness. 


both    of    which     it     bears    a    very    strong    family 


Shippea 

Hill 

'  I'M 

Stonehenge 
L79) 

Is.", 

borpe 
L92 

L53 

L53 

L56 

1  35 

L32 

L33 

l  L5 

1  L2 

1  17 

128 

132 

133 

'.17 

103 

106 

120 

1J7 

1 1':. 

1  16 

1  L3 

1  1  l 

1  L3 

1  1  1 

In.-. 

i::i 

L27 

124 

L37 

L32 

l:;i 

L04 

78-87 

L02 

82-7 

l  i:. 
81-25 

Maximal  Length     ... 

„         breadth 
Auricular  beighl   ... 
Biorbital  width 
Bistephanic  width 
Least  frontal    width 
Biasterial 

Auriculo-glabellar  radius 
Auriculo-ophryal  ,, 

Auriculo-metopic  ,, 

Auriculo-bregmatic  ,, 
Auriculo-lambdoid  ,, 
Length  and   breadth  index 

"  The  resemblance  to  the  two  Round-barrow  skulls  of  the 
Bronze  Age  is  too  great  to  be  accidental,  so  we  may  regard 
this  as  a  representative  of  that  race,  possibly  at  an  earlier  stage 
than  the  typical  form  of  which  the  two  selected  specimens  are 
examples  (Fig.  10). 

•■  The  mandible  also  resembles  that  of  the  Gristhorpe  skull 
in  general  shape  of  angle  and  prominence  of  chin. 
•The   measurements   are   as   appended: 


Condyle-  mental  Length 
Gonio  mental  length 
Bigoniac 
Bicondylar 
Chin  height 


Shippea 

Stonehon_'e 

Hdl 

(No     L79) 

( Iristhorpe 

L31 

— 

L30 

100 

— 

99 

1 1.-. 

— 

1  L6 

l  39 

— 

141 

32 

— 

33  " 

1351U 


(Eambrtogc : 

PRINTED    BY    JOHN    CLAY,    M.A. 
AT    THE    UNIVERSITY    PRESS 


This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below 


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